The Michael Jordan Conspiracy Theory: Analysis by Dan Osenbach There is one major conspiracy theory dealing with Michael Jordan’s retirement. Ryan Davis, Marcel Smith and Mike Korzemba advance their conspiracy theory in their articles and videos. Both of their theories build around the idea that his gambling issues influenced his first retirement. To start, both Davis and Smith talk about a court case, in which Jordan had to testify in the criminal trial of James Bouler.
Jordan was called to explain why Bouler, a convicted drug dealer, was in possession of a Jordan-signed personal check for $57,000 (Smith). First, he claimed that it was a small business loan, but while he was under oath, he stated that the check was to pay off a gambling debt. So, after the 1993 NBA season David Stern, the NBA Commissioner, launched an investigation on why Jordan was gambling. Stern also wanted to check to make sure that his gambling problems had not violated any league rules.
Then, four months after the 1993 season, Jordan stunned the world by suddenly retiring from professional basketball (Smith). The theory goes that Stern had found out Jordan was betting on sporting events, and Stern quietly issued an “off the books” suspension, under the idea of Jordan retiring from the game (Davis). The reason people think Stern played a part in this suspension was because Jordan stated in his retirement press conference, “In five years, if I still have the urge to play basketball, and David Stern allows me, I would love to come back to the league” (Korzemba).
However, people think this was an agreement between Stern and Jordan, in which Stern told him to simply retire and create a distraction so that he wouldn’t face a suspension and have his huge, marketable name tarnished (Smith). Then, days after Jordan announced his retirement, the league and Stern magically dropped the investigation, saying that Jordan did nothing wrong with his offcourt gambling issues (Smith).
Marcel Smith, author for Bleacher Report, brings up points when he asks, “Why would the face of the league on the best team in the league who was known for his enormous competitive drive and his desire to be the best ever suddenly retire in the middle of his prime? ” So, was Jordan suspended from the NBA? After 18 months, Jordan had announced he was coming back to the NBA. During his suspension, he needed to earn some form of extra money to accommodate his gambling problems, so he attempted to play baseball.
Jordan was only good for the use of ticket sales for the Chicago White Sox minor league system. Therefore, he did not earn big money to play baseball, but it was enough to promote his brand (Davis). Nevertheless, 18 months passed by and Jordan’s suspension was up. He decided to come back to basketball in order to pursue being one of the best players of all time (Smith). Jordan then led his team to three more championships, making his legacy even bigger. On the other hand, the story of record comes from The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post.
Jordan’s retirement starts out a week before the start of the 1993-1994 NBA basketball season. The Chicago Bulls were looking to bring home a fourth straight NBA Championship with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Jordan, however, had other plans for this upcoming season. A week before the season was about to begin Jordan decided to call a press conference and Jordan’s announcement was unemotional. According to Mike Downey, an author for The Los Angeles Times, “The announcement lacked a stamp of finality. During the press conference, most of his teammates attended it. While also being broadcast live nationwide from the team’s practice facility in suburban Deerfield, also Jordan’s wife, Juanita, attended along with NBA officials including Commissioner David Stern. Everyone heard Jordan say, “I’ve always stressed to people that when I lose the sense of motivation, it’s time for me to move on. I have reached the pinnacle and I have achieved a lot in a short period. I don’t have anything else to prove. ” (Downey).
Jordan had felt that he had accomplished everything that he wanted to in the NBA and felt bored when he was playing. Jordan later also talks about how life can be short (Cotton). For example, when Jordan talks about the passing of his dad (Cotton). Jordan felt that he should start to live it to its fullest, and the first thing he had to do is get out of his bad lifestyle of playing basketball games and gambling. Soon after this announcement, the basketball nation was blowing up with questions to why a person of his stature would ever give up something this soon (Baker).
Players that played with Jordan were all shocked (Baker). There is even quotes from some of those players wondering why Jordan decided to retire so early. To this day former NBA commissioner, David Stern, has stated, “That there was absolutely no connection between the investigation and Jordan’s sudden retirement,” (Cotton). Anthony Cotton, writer for The Washington Post, quotes Stern, “The investigation was nearly complete, we had a meeting scheduled but we deferred it because of the retirement. According to all available reports, the investigation did not influence Jordan’s retirement. After a few weeks of retirement, Jordan had become bored with of sitting around and doing nothing. He then shocked the sports world by signing a minorleague baseball contract with the Chicago White Sox on February 7, 1994. He reported to spring training in Sarasota, Florida, and was assigned to the team’s minor league system on March 31, 1994 (Lazeby). During his time playing baseball, he was not as successful as his basketball career.
Then in March 1995, Jordan decided to quit baseball (Lazeby). On March 18, 1995, Jordan announced his return to the NBA through a twoword press release: “I’m back. “(“Michael Jordan Bio”). The next day, Jordan wore jersey number 45 (his number with the Barons), as his familiar 23 had been retired in his honor following his first retirement. He took to the court with the Bulls to face the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, scoring 19 points. The game had the highest Nielsen rating of a regular season NBA game since 1975 (Hausman).
Then after a year, he had the Bulls returning to the finals and once again had them winning three titles in a row. I personally think that the conspiracy theory that Michael Jordan was forced by the commissioner, David Stern, to retire is not true. First, I think that The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times are two of the most prestigious sports newspapers in the United States, and they would not post any thoughts of this theory. In addition, the other newspapers that report Jordan’s retirement are only there to report the facts of what was said by Michael Jordan and David Stern.
Also, the other reason why I think that this theory never happened is because the NBA is a big company, and They would not want to lose their reputation. Even though Davis, Smith, and Korzemba make their points very believable, they do not give actual proof that David Stern actually made a deal with Jordan to retire from basketball. Their theory tends to side on the extreme ideas of Jordan’s retirement. These people can only provide evidence on what they think could have happened, and they do not personally ask Michael Jordan the question on why he retired.
They could have made their argument more believable, reliable and accurate if they simply would have taken the time to ask Michael Jordan why he left basketball to begin with. These three people were assuming something off one issue that Jordan had in his life, and instead of going to the source to ask him what truly happened they just decided that it was okay to start this theory based on the supposed facts they knew. The one thing | found most interesting about their conspiracy theory is that they could not find one person that works for the NBA that would give them the answer that they wanted to hear when it came to Jordan’s retirement.
However, I do find it suspicious that Jordan did decide to retire twice while he was in his prime, and I do find it ironic that he tried to make two comebacks in his career. Was Jordan trying to earn more money so that he could gamble more often? This question and so many others seem to go unanswered when it comes to his career. But the one thing that most people can agree with about Jordan is that he was one of the best players in the history of the game, and he always was super competitive in anything he did whether it was gambling or playing a pickup basketball game.